Organization is also a “life form”: Organizational-level personality, job satisfaction, and safety performance of high-speed rail operators

Abstract

Although studies have suggested that personality can forecast safety performance at the individual level, the link between organizational-level personality and safety performance is rarely considered. On the basis of the Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA) theory, the present study investigated the direct and indirect effects of the organizational emergence of personality (Five-Factor Model) on individual-level outcomes (safety performance) in the high-speed rail industry. The sample consisted of 1035 high-speed rail operators in China. The results indicated that the effects of organizational-level personality on safety performance are similar to or stronger than the effects of individual-level personality. Specifically, organizational-level extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness have significantly positive relationships with individual-level safety compliance and safety participation, while neuroticism has a significantly negative relationship with safety compliance and safety participation; the effect of openness to experience was not significant. Moreover, in terms of indirect effects, job satisfaction mediated the links of the four personality constructs (extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, and conscientiousness) with safety compliance and safety participation. These findings highlight the importance of organizational personality to improving employees’ safety performance in safety-critical organizations.